Journos being targeted in HK
Hong Kong: Foreign journalists in Hong Kong are facing “highly unusual” visa delays at a time of high tension between the US and China, a group representing international media said on Thursday.
In a statement, the Foreign Correspondents’ Club (FCC) said that journalists should not be targeted for actions taken by their home countries, the BBC reported. “The FCC calls on the (President Donald) Trump administration to lift its restrictions on Chinese media working in the US, and on Hong Kong and China’s governments to refrain from retribution in targeting US media and journalists working in Hong Kong,” it said. (IANS)
Poland’s leader sworn in
Warsaw: Poland’s conservative President Andrzej Duda has been sworn in for a second term before parliament members.
Most opposition parliamentarians and some former leaders did not attend the ceremony to show their disapproval of what they call Duda’s disregard for the Constitution during his first term, and his almost total acceptance of the ruling right-wing party’s policies that have put Poland at odds with European Union leaders.
Duda won 51.03% of votes in the July 12 election runoff while his challenger, liberal Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, received 48.97 per cent votes. (AP)
Cabinet reshuffle in Thailand
Bangkok: Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has reshuffled his Cabinet, with an experienced banker taking over the post of finance minister. The names of seven people appointed to eight Cabinet positions were published Thursday in the Royal Gazette, making them official.
Four appointments fill portfolios that had been held by a group of ministers who resigned last month.
They were led by Somkid Jatusripitak, a deputy prime minister who has been in several governments during the past 19 years and had been overseeing recent economic stimulus packages. (AP)
51 bodies of migrants recovered
Mexico City: Since 2019, the bodies of 51 foreign migrants have been recovered at the Mexico-US border, authorities said.
In a statement on Wednesday, Mexico’s National Institute of Immigration (INM) said that members of its Beta Group special task force recovered the bodies from a desert terrain and the Rio Grande River that separates the two countries. Migrants often drown attempting to cross the river to sneak into the US undetected. (IANS)